Birth from Fire
by Kairi Yukari
Summary: Set shortly after the end of the Avatar series. ZukoxOC
1. Chapter 1

"Zuko! Zuko!"

Zuko sat in his bedroom, staring at himself in the mirror in his new clothes. Ever since he became Fire Lord, everything seemed so surreal. He was made aware of the issues, but wasn't left to handle them all on his own, which was nice. He didn't know how to run a nation. And strangely, he was feeling thankful for his advisors, who had been pretty much running the nation alone since Azula… yeah. Zuko's attention turned when he heard his uncle's voice, calling to him from the hallway. Wait… not the hallway? Zuko moved closer to the sound and found that it was actually coming from outside the window. He opened the large doors to the balcony and peered over the edge into the darkness, only making out the faint sihlouette of his uncle Iroh on the ground, with something big in his arms. Something almost as big as him. And stained.

"Uncle?" Zuko questioned.

"Zuko quick, have the guards meet me at the garden doors with medics, and the palace doctor. This girl, she needs help!" He waddled underneath the balcony and Zuko didn't register his uncle's sense of distress at first, then as the urgency of the matter crept up inside him he started barking commands.

"Guards! Assemble a team of medics and meet my uncle at the garden gate! Nurses- prepare a room!" Almost as quick as he'd said it, the team of medics were at the gates just as the guards were opening it, and Iroh was hobbling in as best as he could, wheezing and his clothes smeared in blood. Although when Zuko transcended the stairs to meet him, it wasn't his uncle that his eyes were fixed on; rather it was what he had brought in. Zuko let his face sink into an expression of shock and almost horror as he saw that his uncle had carried in a girl, who's left arm and much of her leg, as well as parts of her abdomen and back and neck were badly burnt. Fresh, too, the wounds still oozed blood and puss, the pink flesh twisted in such distaste that some of the nurses could not stay around due to the smell of burnt decaying flesh. The doctors immediately went to work, taking the girl from Iroh's arms, and rushing her off to a sanitized room. Zuko hurried over to his uncle.

"Uncle what happened?" He asked, bending down to see if his uncle needed any help. Iroh was sitting on the floor now, exhausted and sweating, but otherwise apeared unharmed.

"I came upon a village not far from here." He wheezed, trying to slow his breathing. "It seemed like there was some sort of a revolt."

"A revolt?" Zuko's eyes were wide. He hadn't expected this. Well, he had, but not this soon. It'd only been a few weeks since he ascended to the throne, and naturally there would be old fashioned people who thought the same way that his father, Fire Lord Ozai, had. But it seemed to quick for a rebellion.

"I do not think it was against you, entirely." Iroh said, reading the expression on his nephew's face. "I think it had to do something with that girl's family." Zuko snapped back to reality. 

"Her family?" He echoed.

"It was strange. That entire village was almost blaming her family for something. Ousting them from the village, until one young man had set their house afire with his bending." Zuko looked at him as Iroh went to get up, and extended a hand for help. Once standing, the two slowly headed to Iroh's quarters. Zuko had one question in his head, that, due to his uncle's grim nature, he was pretty sure he knew the answer to.

"…The family?" He asked, after a few minutes of wandering through the palace in silence. Iroh just shook his head.

"Go check on the girl for me. Her injuries were grave, and I fear I was too late." Iroh said as they reached his room. "I will wash up and meet you there shortly."

"Okay Uncle." Zuko said, as he turned and walked away. Feeling conflicted inside, Zuko walked towards the medicinal room where he was sure they were treating the girl, and couldn't help but have grim thoughts. _It would almost be easier if she didn't make it…. How will we explain that her family is gone?_ Shaking the thought from his head, he continued onward. 


	2. Chapter 2

Days pass, and the girl that Iroh had brought back to the palace was revocering. For a while the doctors said it was touch and go, her heartbeat so faint that it could barely be heard by ear, her breathing so slow but laboured, she could stop at any moment. The doctors bandaged her up, and as soon as she was stable, left her to recover. She had not made one sound, not a flutter of an eyelid, or any other signs of life other than the slow rise and fall of her chest. Zuko had gone to check up on Iroh, when he realized he wasn't in his room. A guard informed him that he was in the recovery room with the girl he had rescued. "Rescued", if you could call it that. Her family was dead, she was forever scarred, and she seemed to have no will to ever wake up ever again.

Zuko opened the grand door to the room, and stopped dead in his tracks, as he saw the girl sitting up, eyes open, talking to Iroh. The sheets that were once on the bed were on the floor- drenched in water- with the bowl that the water must have come from was sitting on the beside table, untouched. Iroh himself, was drenched in water as well, the chair he'd been sitting on overturned and him a few paces away from the bed.

"Zuko!" Iroh said, almost excited.

"What's going on here?"

"I found out why it was her family that was singled out!" Iroh wandered over to him, seemingly oblivious to the girl who was cringing in pain after being on such alert. Iroh seemed delighted that he found the answer to this mystery. He'd been pondering over it for days. Iroh pulled Zuko in the room and closed the door gently, and then turned around with a grin. "Our little rescue over here," He gestured to the girl in the bed who was now covering her chest with her arms, seemingly glaring at the two of them. "Is a waterbender!"

Zuko blinked. A _what_? A water bender? Living in the fire nation? Zuko's eyes remained fixed on the girl, who was now cleaned of blood and dirt and soot, so that all of her features were visible. Her long, black hair, singed to different lengths, her small round face, with skin as pale as the moon, and sharp ice blue eyes, which were currently glaring daggers at him. He tried to think back- she was definitely in the remnants of fire nation clothes, but then again the avatar and his group dressed in fire nation clothes as well. Zuko's mind drifted. What if she was a spy? An assassin? Sent from the Water Tribes to get revenge for this silly war. They probably held the fire nation responsible. As his thoughts raced, he didn't even notice the girl bending the water that once soaked the sheets on the floor around her right hand, and then commencing a healing process on her burns. Iroh stopped, watching her in awe as she moved her hand up her burnt left arm, healing the skin and returning it to a somewhat normal state. Although not completely healed, the skin fused back together and the redness dissapated, leaving only small ripples in the skin where the burns once were.

"That's amazing!" Iroh exclaimed, going over to her side. Zuko was knocked out of his train of thought- now on guard due to such- and watched the scene before him. When she was done, she replaced the water into the bowl on the beside table, and Iroh applauded her.

"Marvelous! You are quite the skilled bender." He said. "What is your name?" Her eyes fleeted up to meet his, then over to lock with Zuko's, then she turned her face away from them and over towards the window, without a sound. Iroh frowned slightly, and Zuko's infamous temper flared a bit.

"He just saved your life- and you won't even talk to him?" Iroh raised a hand to stop Zuko's outburst, shaking his head slightly.

"Now now, Zuko. Maybe its just because we are being rude." Iroh picked up the sheets off the floor and shook them out a bit, and then placed them back over her bare legs. "My name is Iroh. Forgive this young gentleman over here, he is my headstrong nephew, and current Fire Lord, Zuko." He sat slowly on the bed beside her. "Won't you tell us your name?" She stared stubbornly out the window for a few moments, then her shoulders relaxed just a tiny bit.

"Quinna." She said in a small, barely audible voice.

"Kee-nah?" He repeated, sounding it out. "Pretty name, Quinna." She didn't reply. Somehow, the mood in the room was darkening.

_I'm sure she must realize the inevitable._ Zuko thought, his previous temper spurt dying within him.

"Do you remember what happened, Quinna?" Iroh asked gently. She didn't reply. She just sat, motionless, her face turned towards the window. Minutes pass, what seemed longer to Zuko, as the room remained still, until her weight shifted.

"My family?" She asked, in a voice that was still quiet, but somehow steeled. Iroh didn't respond. Zuko lowered his eyes to the floor.

"I see." She said. After a few more moments passed, she spoke once more. "My father is- was... a fire bender. My mother, a water bender. My two younger brothers were both learning how to fire bend. They sucked." Zuko could see the skin on her face move; she must be smiling. "I had my mother's talents. Although we hid our water bending. Someone must have seen us. We were so careful… and then Pach… he…" Her words strained with the memory. Her body tightened for a moment, then released into futility. "I couldn't protect… I couldn't…. protect.. anyone." She choked on her words as she began breathing rapidly, all of a sudden a thin layer of sweat was visible on her skin, and she fell back onto the bed, laying on her side as she proceed to hyperventalate. Iroh jumped up.

"Zuko call the doctors right away!"

Quinna's vision went from clear to blurry as she felt herself being rolled over. As she blinked everything seemed surreal, like it was a bad dream. Like it couldn't really be happening. She'd just gone to pick some herbs. Just yesterday. Her mom said that they needed Bumbleroot. She'd just gone to pick herbs….

Quinna's world faded to black.


End file.
